History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 14

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
Publication date: 1923
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 844

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He was a democrat in politics, and in 1882 was elected district attorney of Los Angeles County and in 1886 was chosen state senator. He was elected president pro tem of the Senate. When Lieutenant-Governor Waterman became governor on the death of Governor Bartlett, Senator White, as presiding officer of the Senate, automatically became lieutenant governor. He was chairman of several democratic state conventions, and was a delegate from California to the National Convention of 1888. He was subsequently elected United States senator, and served the last four years of Cleveland's second term. While in the Senate he was associated with two of his distinguished kinsmen who were in congress at the same time, Stephen Mallory, the Senator from Florida, and Bourke Cochran, the eloquent New York congressman, both of whom were his cousins.

Senator White died in 1901. In Leland Stanford University a room in one of the buildings on the campus is dedicated to this then eminent Cali- fornia lawyer.

June 5, 1883, he married Miss Hortense Sacriste. Her father, Charles Sacriste, was a native of Bordeaux, France, and operated the first woolen mills in Los Angeles, and also conducted a store on Los Angeles Street. Mrs. White graduated from the Notre Dame Convent of Philadelphia. She survived her honored husband and resides at 1273 Alpha Street. She is the mother of four children, William Stephen, Estelle Marie, Hortense Genotelle and Gerald Griffin White.

HERMAN BAERTSCHIGER. One of the best examples of what can be accomplished in this country by the foreign-born citizen is shown in the work and present prosperity of Herman Baertschiger and his family, of El Monte, who, coming here without means and with no knowledge of the language and customs, have become owners of valuable property, and are high-valued people of their community. They have worked unceasingly, planned intelligently, and invested wisely their carefully saved earnings. Father, mother and children have worked together with one end in view, the advancement of the family as a unit, and their success has been certain from the beginning.

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Herman Baertschiger was born in Switzerland, in 1859, and there he was educated and taught the trade of a brewer, and it was at this trade that he obtained work in Wisconsin upon his coming to the United States in 1882. In 1886 he arrived in California and began working for the brewing firm of Meyer & Zocbelin of Los Angeles. Until the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment he continued working at his trade, and at that time was with the Mathie Brewing Company. When Mr. Baertschiger came to California it was with the intention of securing some land of his own, and in 1909 he was able to buy with his savings fifteen acres of wild swamp land in the bottoms of the San Gabriel River on Potrero Avenue, three and one-half miles southwest of El Monte, and the family moved to this ranch. While he continued working at his trade his wife and elder son cleared this land of. the brush and placed it under cultivation. This land is subirrigated from underground currents of water running from the mountains, and has been developed into one of the finest tracts for gardening and fruit farming on the coast. They specialize on raising celery and other truck products, and their celery is noted for its superiority. The son has engaged very extensively in the raising of different flowers for seed, and has many acres of bright-hued flowers, which, properly allowed to seed, find a ready cash market. In 1919 he bought thirty-five acres on Tyler Street, El Monte, which he devotes exclusively to flowers, and his tracts are noted all over California.

In 1888 Mr. Baertschiger married Lena Vogel, who was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and there she attended school until fifteen years old, at which time she was in high school. She is a daughter of Jacob Vogel, a farmer, owner of a farm and sand and gravel pits, and proprietor of a teaming business. In 1884 the Vogel family came to the United States and settled at Los Angeles, where Mr. Vogel died in 1891, and his wife in 1911. They had nine children, five daughters and four sons, and Mrs. Baertschiger was the fourth child. Mr. and Mrs. Baertschiger have four children, namely: Anna, who married Bert Somerson; Herman J., who is unmarried and living with his parents; Edward, who is also unmarried, and is living at Los Angeles; and Bertha, who is living with her parents, the widow of Edward Rudel, who died February 18, 1920, during an epidemic of influenza.

Herman Baertschiger and his wife are splendid people, hard-working and thrifty. They have reared their children with watchful care, given them excellent education and taught them the value of money and the necessity for work. Mrs. Baertschiger has done her full share in advancing the family's fortune. While her husband worked at his trade, thus insuring a fixed cash income, she and the older children labored unremittingly to make a permanent home, and through the labor of their own hands have redeemed wild land and made it one of the most valuable properties in a region noted for high realty values. Although not born here, Mr. and Mrs. Baertschiger have become thoroughly Americanized, and are intensely loyal to their adopted country, which has given them opportunities for advancement they could have obtained nowhere else. They have honestly won and easily hold the confidence and respect of their fellow citizens, and set an example for others of honorable, self-respecting independence and industrious living which foreign and American born alike might do well to follow.

HENRY J. OLSON. One of the highly esteemed citizens who has worked his way to a recognized position in manufacturing and business circles of Alhambra is Henry J. Olson, the proprietor of the only planing mill at this point. His career has been one of self-made, success, for his present prosperity rests solely on his own industry and good management.

Mr. Olson was born at Spring Valley, a small mining town in Nevada, and is a son of Hans and Mary (Staley) Olson, his father having been a native of Norway. He was two years of age when brought to Southern California by his parents, who made the long trip overland from Oregon

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

by wagon, and his first recollections of Alhambra are those of a small hamlet with unimproved streets and no modern conveniences. At the time Garfield Avenue was cut through to the south Mr. Olson's father planted the ornamental camphor trees on that thoroughfare from the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks to the Ocean to Ocean Highway, and as a lad Henry J. Olson took a prominent part in this labor by carrying water with which to keep these trees alive. He attended the old school at the corner of Chapel and Beacon streets, and later the school at Garfield Avenue and Alhambra Road, with C. E. Jones as teacher, and in his youth was apprenticed to the trade of carpenter, which he mastered. Becoming efficient in his business, he was able to accumulate some means, and these he eventually invested in the building of Alhambra's first planing mill, an industry that was greatly needed at a time when the town was growing in size and importance and when building materials were at a premium. This mill was built in 1905, and was successfully operated by Mr. Olson until 1914, when it was destroyed by fire. This proved a total loss, as Mr. Olson had no insurance, but he did not allow himself to become discouraged. Instead, he immediately began building on a greatly increased scale, and now has a modern plant, fully capable in every department of meeting the city's increasing demands. It is equipped with all machinery necessary for the production of even the most detailed and highly specialized work to be used in structural enterprises, and is accounted one of the city's most progressive industries, as its owner is known as one of Alhambra's most progressive and enterprising business citizens.

In 1906 Mr. Olson married at Ontario, California, Miss Amy Noble, who was born at Ontario, Canada, and to this union there have come two children: Donald, who was born at Alhambra, March 29, 1907, a student of the Alhambra High School, who has commenced his business training under the preceptorship of his father; and Agnes, born at Alhambra, October 4, 1912, who is attending the public schools of this city. Mr. Olson has a number of business, civic and fraternal connections, but has not found time to participate in local public affairs save as a constructive citizen.

ALFRED P. GRIFFITH. The little valley in which Azusa is located is now almost a continuous landscape of citrus groves, one of the most beautiful and prosperous sections of Los Angeles County. Thirty years ago this was an arid and forbidding desert. Human enterprise and capital have effected the transformation, and 'among those deserving credit for it none displayed greater faith, continuity of purpose and enthusiasm of leadership than the late Alfred P. Griffith. An Eastern man, successful in business, yet without any knowledge of horticulture or the technique of irrigation, he bought land, began planting citrus trees, foresaw the possibilities of the region, and before the close of his life had developed two hundred acres to citrus fruit. He was among the first in this locality to set out navel oranges. He was also the first to build a substantial brick business block in the then dust covered town.

At the beginning he recognized an ample supply of water as the key to the future development. He came into the San Gabriel Valley in 1891, and was prominently connected with all irrigation and water developments here until his death on November 12, 1914. He was especially active in promoting the irrigation system of the Azusa Valley, known as the Azusa Irrigating Company. He was president of the Glendora-Azusa Water Company many years. The residents of the district when he came were divided into two warring factions, and one of his greatest achievements was harmonizing these factions so as to open the way to a successful solution of the irrigation problem. He made a study of irrigation, applied sense and business logic, and effected many changes for the better. The old mud ditches were replaced by concrete water ways, and thirty-five miles of cement pipe was laid. By the old system the loss of water occasionally reached fifty per cent in a distance of an eighth of a mile. The water

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

company was reorganized, and an $80,000 issue of bonds was floated. Much difficulty was found in marketing the bonds, and finally they were taken over by contractors. Within two years the bonds commanded a ten per cent premium. The initial cost of the system was $125,000, and $150,000 was expended on subsequent improvements and extensions. The district supplied by the water company now comprises four thousand acres. The original source for the regular supply is the river, but in case of a prolonged dry season there are auxiliary pumping plants to supply all needs. The system is acknowledged as one of the most efficient in Los Angeles County. Practically every acre of this district is now planted to oranges or lemons.

During his lifetime the late Mr. Griffith developed practically all of his two hundred acres. For a number of years he shipped the fruit from this acreage through his own private packing house, known as the A. P. Griffith Association. Mr. Griffith was always a loyal supporter of the California Fruit Growers Exchange and always shipped through it. He was a director of the First National Bank of Azusa, and vice president of the Azusa Valley Savings Bank for a number of years.

Mr. Griffith was born on the Island of Cuba, June 24, 1845, son of Richard and Sarah (Harris) Griffith, his father a native of Wales and his mother of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Griffith was reared in Philadelphia and attended public school there. At the age of sixteen he went to work, and from that time was dependent upon his own resources. His. first employment was with a saddle, harness and carriage furnishing house, and subsequently he represented that house as traveling salesman for ten years. He represented other prominent firms of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati and St. Louis. He was regarded as a very astute and enterprising business man, but his success in other fields did not make him a qualified expert to handle the problems of irrigation and citrus development at Azusa when he located here in 1891. It was his personal zeal and study that enabled him to accomplish things that men of longer experience hesitated to undertake. His first purchase here was thirty acres. The vigor and public spirit that characterized his associations with the water company were also reflected in his deep interest in the educational, moral and religious affairs of the community. For seven years he was trustee of Los Angeles University, and was also trustee of the Citrus Union High School and later vice president and president of the board. At the age of thirteen he was baptized, and to the end of his life was a devout and sincere member and worker in the Baptist Church. As a young man, when so located as to make it possible, he carried a large share of work in the Sunday school and the Young People's Association. On coming to California he at once sought opportunities to be of service to his church, and became president of the Sunday School Association of the county and continuously until his death was either president or chairman of the Executive Committee of the association. In 1895 he became a member of the State Missionary Board, and his personal popularity and his known zeal for the cause eventually brought him the honor of presiding officer of the State Convention, and following that he was on the Executive Board until his death. For two years he was chairman of the board and also of the Executive Committee.

Mr. Alfred P. Griffith was the first man in this community to bring a rock crusher here for the purpose of putting in a rock base road at Azusa. He brought the crusher and built a mile of this rock base road in Azusa at his own expense: This road was constructed in 1900, and was in constant use until pavement took its place about ten years later.

In 1888 Mr. Griffith married Miss Alice Black, of Baltimore, Maryland. She died May 5, 1912. Their only surviving child is Elbert B. Griffith, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 25, 1891.

In 1895 Mr. Griffith brought his family to Azusa. Young Elbert B. was educated in the public schools in Azusa, and later graduated from the Wharton School of Economics of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, with the Bachelor of Science in Economics degree. After

Eva Frances Pike

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

leaving university he returned home and turned his attention to fruit culture in the valley. He operated a twenty acre grove near Glendora, and in 1917 took over the management of his father's large citrus holdings and since 1919 has owned this extensive property. He has his father's public spirit and enterprise, and his individual holdings make him one of the most influential men in the citrus industry.

In 1916 Elbert Griffith married Miss Lillian Archambault, a native of Philadelphia, and a member of an old Pennsylvania family. She was liberally educated in art, being a graduate of the Philadelphia Industrial Art School and of the Philadelphia School of Design. Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Griffith have one child, Alfred Patterson Griffith, born August 6, 1917.

MISS EVA FRANCES PIKE. The "Boston Tea Party" is so much a part of American history that any new light thrown on that memorable event commands interest everywhere, even after the lapse of so many years. Interested in and vastly proud of her achieving citizens as Los Angeles is, there are, perhaps, many who do not know that in one of her talented musicians and musical directors, Miss Eva Frances Pike, is found a direct descendant of an active participant in that patriotic demonstration. Miss Pike is a great-granddaughter of Jonathan Parker, a hero in this and other episodes, and through him and also through her Pike ancestry, is entitled to membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and other patriotic organizations.

Eva Frances Pike was born at Livermore Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine, August 8, 1857. Her parents, Jonathan and Rhoda (Parker) Pike, both descended from New England colonists and were of Revolutionary stock, the Pikes being among the yeomanry that faced the British fire on Lexington Common. The name has been further known in history, and one branch of the family was commemorized in the naming of Pike's Peak, Colorado. On the maternal side, the Parker's have been equally notable. Jonathan Parker was born in Massachusetts in 1728, and on his farm near Roxbury, Massachusetts, Revolutionary troops were quartered during the war for independence. It was on December 16, 1773, that Mr. Parker, with loyal intent, joined with a small party of his neighbors and towns- folk in capturing the dutiable tea on British ships in Boston harbor, and through their courageous act 342 chests were spilled in the waters. Later he assisted in the capture of two heavy guns, and these may now be seen with other armaments at Bunker Hill.

Miss Pike was fortunate in her youth in her environments. She was educated most liberally, attending the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Bos- ton University, and cultivating her marked musical talent in the New England Conservatory of Music, from which she was graduated, having been a pupil of such famous teachers as J. C. D. Parker and George E. Whiting, subsequently studying under William Mason, William H. Sher- wood and Leopold Godowsky. Since definitely choosing the field of music as her career, Miss Pike has made an enviable name in the profession, to which she has closely devoted herself.

For a number of years she was at the head of the music department of well known institutions of learning in the East, including Randolph- Macon Institute, Virginia ; Wilbraham Academy and Mount Holyoke Col- lege, Massachusetts ; the piano department of Landon Conservatory, Texas. She has directed large choruses and has eighteen years of church organ service to her credit.

In 1904 Miss Pike built a handsome structure on the corner of Western Avenue and West Sixteenth Street, Los Angeles, California, just across from Harvard Military School, which was founded by Mr. Grenville C. and Mrs. Ella R. Emery, the latter being Miss Pike's sister. Miss Pike named her building "Parker Hall" in honor of her Revolutionary ancestor, Jonathan Parker. She conducts a fine Normal school, where teachers of music can receive exceptional advantages in their science and become familiar with every technicality of the art; also, has charge of the piano work in the Harvard Military school.

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

The breadth of her public activities is suggested by reference to a few of her many responsibilities aside from her professional work. Associate Chairman of Extension, California Federation of Music Clubs, her field, the Southern section of the state; one of the pioneer musicians of Los Angeles ; member of the permanent executive committee, Civic Music and. Art Association of Los Angeles; two years president of the Los Angeles Music Teachers' Association, Los Angeles County ; and since its inception in 1906 has frequently been an official of the Dominant Club, an organization limiting its membership to seventy-five and composed of professional musicians of Los Angeles.

WILLIAM IGNATIUS FOLEY earned many distinctions while a member of the Los Angeles bar, where he practiced for a third of a century, but in a more intimate circle he was equally esteemed for the unusual scope of his intellectual and literary interests. He passed away at his home April 19, 1921, and many of the city's leading lawyers and judges paid the tribute of their respect and friendship for his memory, including his life long friend and former associate, ex-Governor Henry T. Gage and Ingall W. Bull.

The late Mr. Foley was born in San Francisco, February 19, 1861 He was a son of Francis Foley, who after crossing the plains reached San Francisco August 25, 1849. The late Mr. Foley was a fine example of a native son. He attended and in 1878 graduated from Saint Ignatius Jesuit College in San Francisco, and from there went East to Columbia University in New York, where he received his Bachelor and Masters degrees in law. He was admitted to the New York bar, practiced for a time in San Francisco, for two years at Seattle, and then came to Southern California, opening his first office at. Pomona in 1884. In 1887 he estab- lished himself permanently in practice at Los Angeles. He soon became associated with Henry T. Gage. When Mr. Gage was elected governor in 1899 Mr. Foley accompanied him to Sacramento as his private secretary. At the close of the term in 1903 Governor Gage offered him the office of judge of the State Supreme Court, which he declined. Later he accepted. the post of attorney for the State Board of Health. Mr. Foley drafted many of the acts now included in the health laws of the state. In later years Mr. Foley and Governor Gage were again associated in law practice, with offices in the Central Building at Los Angeles. The last case in which he was employed was the Kline case.

For a number of years Mr. Foley lived at Twenty-ninth and Mcnlow avenues, and in 1908 he built the family home at 751 South Catalina Street. This home contains the private library which Mr. Foley, a true lover of books, collected during many years. It is one of the most interesting private libraries in the city. It contains a collection of Latin and Greek classics, many rare first cditions, and volumes dating back into the seventeenth century, including a large volume, a first edition of Aesop's Fables. Mr. Foley possessed the artistic temperament expressed in his love of music and voice, and he composed many beautiful poems and also an opera entitled "Zaidee, the Flower Girl of Bagdad," which though not produced was set to music by Mario Hediger.

On September 23, 1889, Mr. Foley married Sarah Dolores Sepulveda, daughter of Jose Dolores Sepulveda, of the distinguished Sepulveda family of the Palos Verde ranch and also related to the Lugo family of the San Antonio ranch. Mrs. Foley shared with her husband a deep interest in music, and she charmed both children and friends with the wonderful quality of her voice. She died in August, 1906.

Four children survived: Mrs. Viola Lilian Morrow, who with her husband and her brother occupies the old family home; Zoraya Filema, now deceased, whose first name was a Moorish word meaning "the dawn," while Filema is a Greek name, meaning "the kiss of salutation." Elsa Zelinda, whose work as coloratura soprano has made her widely known in musical circles, is Mrs. Frederick Schott, living at Taft, California. Rupert Godfrey Foley, aged twenty-one, is still in college.

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

EDWARD H. MUNSON has made a record of consecutive advancement in connection with business enterprise in the City of Pasadena, where he is the sole owner of the substantial and prosperous business conducted under the title of the Enterprise Hardware Company, the well equipped establishment being situated at 156 East Colorado Street. Here is to be found at all times a complete stock of heavy and shelf hardware, builders' hardware, bath-room fixtures, house-furnishing goods, Baldwin refrig- erators, garden tools, lawn mowers, cutlery, etc., and the business has been built up on the basis of excellent service and fair and honorable dealings.

Mr. Munson was born at Fredonia, New York, November 10, 1882, and in that vicinity were born his parents, Spencer M. and Mary E. (Ryckman) Munson, representatives of old and honored families of the Empire State. Spencer M. Munson was formerly engaged in the hard- ware business at Pasadena, where he is now living virtually retired. He has been one of the representative business men and citizens of Pasadena. and served fourteen years as city treasurer. His wife here died on the 27th of December, 1899. The home was established in Pasadena on the 26th of November, 1886, when the family came direct from New York State to California. Of the two children the subject of this sketch is the younger, his brother, Harry R., being here engaged in business as an interior decorator.

Edward H. Munson was four years of age at the time the family home was established in Pasadena, and here he acquired his early educa- tion by attending the public schools. In 1903 he here found employment in the hardware establishment of D. G. Andrews, with whom he remained until 1908, when he engaged in the same line of buiness in an independent way, his progressiveness and well ordered policies having brought unqual- ified success to the enterprise which he conducts under the title of the Enterprise Hardware Company.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 14

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Number of Pages: 844

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
Publication date: 1923
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 844